


In the Stacks

by PhiraLovesLoki



Series: Captain Swan Tumblr Prompts [1]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, F/M, One Shot, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-19
Updated: 2015-02-19
Packaged: 2018-03-13 20:11:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3394874
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PhiraLovesLoki/pseuds/PhiraLovesLoki
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Final exams are approaching, and students are taking advantage of the library's late night study hours. One late night, Killian notices that a student he recognizes from one of his classes has fallen asleep at her desk. Captain Swan college!AU one-shot.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In the Stacks

**Author's Note:**

  * For [imhookedonaswan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/imhookedonaswan/gifts).



> This story was written for imhookedonaswan, who requested Captain Swan in the stacks, studying for hours and hours. No pre-meds were harmed in the making of this story.

He first noticed her in the library, asleep while sitting at a carrel desk. Well, that wasn’t true. He’d noticed her in cell biology lecture plenty of times. It was hard not to notice her long blonde curls, currently pooled around her head, which she’d put down on the desk. He couldn’t really blame her; it was midnight and their exam was in three days. The only reason he was still conscious was because of the espresso he’d chugged only a couple hours ago, but this late at night, it was leaving him more shaky than alert.

He looked back down at his textbook. He’d been reading the same page for the past twenty minutes or so, and it wasn’t just because the diagram on the page was extremely complicated. He kept trying to read the words in the caption, but every time he’d read a sentence, he’d reach the period at the end and have no memory of what he’d just read. It was, he knew, time to give up.

But the blonde in the carrel in the corner—it would be bad form to just leave her there. It was late, and the study rooms were mostly empty, but what if someone tried to take advantage of her? Her laptop was sticking out of her bag, which was propped up behind her chair. Her purse had fallen over, and the contents were threatening to spill out. She could be the victim of theft, or worse. And besides, she clearly needed to go home and get some rest.

He packed up his books and notebooks, trying not to be too noisy, but hoping that the rustling might wake the blonde up. However, once he’d thrown his backpack over his shoulder and pushed his chair in, she hadn’t stirred. He sighed before stepping over to her and gently touching her shoulder.

As he’d feared, she jolted awake with a startled shout. “I’m sorry, love,” he whispered; there were still a handful of other students around who were busy studying. “You’d fallen asleep.”

She met his gaze, her green eyes sleepy and confused. He’d caught glimpses of her in lecture, but this was the first time he’d gotten a good look at her. There were dark circles under her eyes, her cheek was red from being pressed against the desktop, and she clearly wasn’t wearing makeup. She was bloody beautiful.

“Oh god, I did, didn’t I?” she groaned. “Shit. I’m so fucked.”

A loud, “Shh!” came from a nearby student.

“Exams are coming up,” he said sympathetically. “I’d say we’re all fucked.”

“What time is it?”

“It’s about midnight.”

“Fuck.” The woman swore like a sailor; he approved. “I told my roommate I’d be home over an hour ago.”

“Where are you heading? I’ll walk with you.”

“Carmichael.”

He stifled a groan; that was about as far from his own dorm as any could possibly be on this campus. But he was a gentleman. “Then Carmichael it is.” She seemed to be evaluating him for a moment before nodding and packing up her belongings; she quickly fired off a text before gesturing for him to lead the way out of the library.

It was chilly out, given how late it was, and that the spring had been unusually cold (well, he’d lived here for nearly four years; he supposed he should be used to the capricious New England weather). The blonde was shivering as they made their way up to the quad; she was only wearing a thin sweater.

“Wait,” he said, shrugging off his backpack and then removing his jacket. She raised an eyebrow at him skeptically. “I’m just trying to be a gentleman,” he insisted. “And you’re clearly cold, love.”

She didn’t reply, but she did accept the loan. They continued onward.

“So, you’re in cell bio, too, right?” she asked as they made their way across the green.

“Aye.”

“Please tell me I’m not the only person who feels totally lost.”

He chuckled. “Professor Mills does lecture at a swift pace. It’s taken me so long to organize my notes, I’ve hardly had time to study for chemistry.”

She groaned. “Same here. At least chemistry comes easier to me.”

“You’re also taking chem?” He hadn’t seen her in any of his other courses, so this was a surprise.

“Yeah, I’m in the morning lecture.”

“Ah, I’m in the afternoon one.”

They’d reached Carmichael. “This is me,” she said, as they reached the door. “Thanks for waking me up and walking me back …”

“Uh, Killian,” he said, answering her implied question. He reached out a hand to shake hers.

“I’m Emma. Anyway, thanks again.”

“I’m happy I could help. Good luck with the rest of your studying.”

"Ugh, I’ll need it,” she replied. “I guess I’ll see you around?”

“I hope so.”

“Oh, your jacket,” she said, and she reached for her backpack straps.

“Don’t worry about it. If I don’t see you, you can just find me before or after the exam.”

“Okay.” She gave him that look again, as though she were analyzing him. “Well, good night, Killian.”

“Good night, love.”

It was easy for him to ignore the cold as he made his way across campus to his own dorm.

* * *

 

By the time she could get to the library after dinner, all of the carrels were full. Every last one of them. With only two days until exams began, she shouldn’t have been surprised. But she’d had to work all damn day, and she’d rushed through dinner so she could get as much studying in as possible. Now she was going to have to leave and find somewhere else to work. Her dorm wasn’t the best place; she and Mary Margaret tended to distract each other when they both studied in the same room, and besides, her neighbors were obnoxiously loud all the time. The RA, Walter, could sleep through anything and didn’t seem to really care about doing the job he’d signed up for.

She walked downstairs to where the study rooms were. The rooms were rarely empty, especially before ten or eleven o’clock at night, and it was only seven. But there was always a chance she’d run into someone she recognized from cell bio or chem or Italian, who might be willing to share a study room with her if there was space.

Room after room was filled with strangers, who all glared nervously as she passed, like they knew she might ask to come in and they were dreading having to tell her no. The last room, though, only had one person in it, a guy with his back to the door. She knocked.

It was Killian, the guy who’d walked her home not even twenty-four hours ago, and he looked really happy to see her. “Hey,” he said, smiling as he opened the door.

“Hey, thanks again for last night,” she said. “I’m sorry, I left your jacket back in my dorm room. I didn’t know I’d bump into you so soon.”

“It’s no problem,” he said. God, everything he said with that British accent was just so dreamy. “Like I said, there’s no rush to get it back.”

“Well, still,” she said. “Anyway, I don’t want to bother you, but can I study in here?”

“Of course, love,” he said, moving out of the way so she could get into the small room. “I actually don’t usually bother coming down here, but all the desks were taken upstairs. I only snagged this room because I caught someone as they were leaving.”

“That’s lucky,” she said, gently dropping her backpack to the ground and pulling out her textbooks. “I just walked through the whole library and there isn’t a free desk in the house. There are people sitting on the floor.”

“I do very much hate exams,” he said. He gestured at his textbooks and notes spread out across half of the table. “As you can probably tell.”

“I feel the same way.” She craned her neck to see what he was working on. “Chemistry?”

“Yeah, for now. I’m just not cut out for thermodynamics.”

“It’s because you’ve got Hopper for lecture,” she said sympathetically. “I was warned to avoid him. Gold manages to make chemistry seem like magic— _so_ totally worth an eight am lecture. Here, I’ll show you.”

It wasn’t until an hour later, when she’d finished walking Killian through another equation, that she realized he hadn’t actually _asked_ for her help. “Shit, I’m sorry,” she said. “I just gave you a lecture you didn’t even ask me for.”

He laughed. “Relax. You’re helping me. For once, chemistry is making sense, and just in time for our upcoming exam. You shouldn’t be apologizing; you should be letting me thank you.”

She was momentarily speechless at the thought of what exactly he might have in mind in terms of _thanking_ her, but she quickly regained her composure. “Well, you can always thank me by explaining cell signaling to me. That’s what I was hoping to study tonight.”

“I’d be more than happy to help you with that.” He grinned and pulled over his textbook. “Here, grab some fresh paper. This’ll be easier if we can draw some of it out.”

The rest of the evening went on, just like that. One person would bring up a concept they were struggling with, and the other one would teach it. Emma had never thought that she would _ever_ find the cell cycle interesting, but as Killian excitedly related to her how its regulation was related to cancer, she couldn’t help but share some of his enthusiasm.

“Oh, Emma, I’m sorry,” he said suddenly, after she’d just walked him through some particularly complicated redox reactions. “It’s nearly one in the morning.”

“What?” Her phone had been quiet the whole night—Mary Margaret would totally have texted her. But when she picked up her phone and turned on the screen, she realized that there was no reception. This was _another_ reason she hated the basement rooms. “Fuck. Sorry, I’ve got to get going.”

“I’ll walk you back again,” he said. And, just like last night, he was totally sincere.

Emma was used to guys playing the whole “gentleman” card to get in her pants. It had only ever worked on her once before, with Neal, when she’d been an impressionable freshman and hadn’t known any better. Since then, whenever a guy would try to pull the old, “Let me walk you to your dorm” act, she’d just roll her eyes, decline, and walk away while pretending to make a phone call (or, depending on the creepiness of the guy, _actually_ making a phone call).

But with Killian, her bullshit detector was just not going off. He just seemed to want to make sure she got back to her dorm safely, just like last night. And he’d just let her study with him when he could have told her no, and he’d done so without hinting that she owed him anything. Not that he was going to get cookies for being a decent human being. But it was nice. _He_ was nice.

And, well, he was smart. And very handsome.

“So what other exams do you have?” she asked as they walked back to her dorm.

“I’ve got a Spanish exam, but that’s it,” he replied. “I’m taking a course on Shakespeare, but the final is an essay that was due a few days ago. Spanish isn’t until the end of the week, and I’m honestly almost fluent, so it’s really just chem and cell bio. What about you?”

“I’m not quite as lucky. My Italian exam is the same day as chem, although I’m doing well enough that I’m not too nervous. But I’m putting off studying until bio is over. My community health paper is due the day after that, but I’ve already written my first draft.”

“Ah, you’re one of those people who actually can write multiple drafts of a paper,” he said. “I’m awful when it comes to that sort of preparation. I can study for days in advance for an exam, but when I’ve got to put words on a page, I just can’t seem to do it until the night before.”

“It takes practice. My roommate is an English major, so she’s a pro at writing papers. She’s a good influence.”

“That’s lucky. My roommate is just good at drinking.”

“Where do you live?” They were approaching Carmichael, and it had only just occurred to her that she had no idea how far out of his way he was going to walk with her.

He nervously scratched behind his ear. “Uh, I live in South.”

South? South was on the opposite side of campus. In fact, there were very, very few places either of them could live that would increase the distance between. “Jesus, Killian! Why the hell are you walking me back? Twice?”

They stopped at the door to the dorm. “I’m just trying to be a gentleman,” he said. “I really don’t mind.”

“Well, I do.” His face fell a bit. “So I’ll just have to walk _you_ home tomorrow night.”

He grinned. “Meet you in the library at seven?”

“It’s a date.”

* * *

 

Emma had staked out the same room in the library basement by the time he arrived. “I’m sorry I’m late,” he said as he walked in, but his mind suddenly and briefly blanked. She was wearing his jacket, and for some reason, it was incredibly hot. How had this thought not crossed his mind two nights ago?

“I only just got here and snagged the room,” she said, gesturing at her still unopened backpack. “Ready for one last night of cramming?”

“Absolutely.”

They began the same way they had the previous night, with Emma asking for some clarification about stem cells while he pointed to the sections of his notes on electrochemistry that he had been unable to decypher.

But within a couple of hours, Emma prompted him to explain nuclear reactions, and to his surprise, he was able to with relative ease (emphasis on relative, of course; chemistry still wasn’t his strong suit). He let out a surprised laugh when she confirmed he’d clearly understood the material, and she’d beamed at him proudly.

Bloody hell, she was beautiful.

Sensing a new strategy, he prompted her to explain the differences between the different types of cytoskeletal components, something she’d been struggling with the night before. She grabbed a sheet of paper and began to jot down notes as she gamely talked through those differences. When she was done, she grinned widely and said, “Boom,” before doing a mic drop with her pen.

This time, he’d set his phone alarm, knowing that they might easily get caught up in studying until midnight, or well after, and with their exam in the morning, they both needed to get some rest. But he wasn’t prepared for just how disappointed he’d feel when said alarm went off.

“Oh wow, it’s already eleven,” Emma commented, checking her own phone. “I guess we’d better call it a night. I don’t think cramming is going to help either of us anymore.”

“Well, I could certainly use some more cramming for chemistry,” he admitted. “But I agree; I think we’ve both learned as much about cell biology as we possibly can before tomorrow’s exam.”

“So you live in South?”

“Yes,” he replied. “But please, love, it wouldn’t be good form for me to let you walk all the way back to Carmichael alone.”

She crossed her arms defiantly. “Well, it wouldn’t be _good form_ for _me_ to let _you_ walk all the way back to South alone. So unless you want to part ways at the library doors, you should just let me walk with you.”

From what little time he’d spent with her, he knew she wasn’t bluffing. She certainly was as stubborn as he was; he could tell that pushing back and refusing one of her two options would ruin … whatever it was that was happening.

“Well, then I have no choice,” he said, “but to allow you to escort me back to my dorm.”

“Good.” But she sounded happy, not angry.

They made their way down the steps, towards the southern part of campus. “So, are you a bio major?” she asked.

“Yes, although I’d like to focus on marine biology. How about you?”

“I’m still deciding what I want to do,” she said. “I’m thinking of following the pre-med track while majoring in community health.”

“I think that sounds wonderful.”

“Yeah?”

“Yes.” He wasn’t lying. Most of the pre-meds he encountered, both in and out of class, were hypercompetitive and unfriendly, focused entirely on their grades and extracurriculars, and not much else. “What are you thinking of doing with your major?”

“I want to spend some time doing some health advocacy, I think. Then if I decide that I want to get my medical degree or nursing degree or something, I’ve at least got the prerequisites down before I graduate. But it’s hard to keep up with all the _real_ pre-meds.”

“I know what you mean. I’m looking forward to taking upper level classes; I doubt there will be many pre-meds in the population biology courses.”

“Probably not,” she agreed.

“I know you’re more anxious about tomorrow’s exam,” he said, changing the subject. “But do you think you might be okay studying for chemistry together as well? I know it’s the day after and you might need a break.”

“No, I don’t mind at all,” she said quickly. He felt his shoulders relax; he hadn’t realized how tense he’d been before her answer. “Besides, helping you study challenges me. It’s easy to think you understand something until you try to explain it to someone, you know?”

“Absolutely. Why do you think I was so open to studying for biology with you?”

She laughed. “Uh, honestly? I assumed you had a thing for me.”

They’d arrived at South, and he was able to turn and face her directly. She was blushing prettily.

He cleared his throat. “I, uh, I really didn’t even know you until a couple nights ago,” he said awkwardly. The last thing he wanted was for her to be driven off by him coming on too strong. But her face fell a little; god, she _wanted_ him to have a thing for her. “But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t hope to spend time with you in a non-studying capacity.”

There she was again, examining him like a specimen. “Well, that’s good,” she said softly. She smiled shyly. “Good night, Killian.”

He felt practically drunk by the time he got back to his room.

* * *

 

One common study tip Emma had learned was to have a scent in the room while you were studying, and then find a way to bring the scent with you to the exam. The sense memory helped trigger other memories; it was a strategy she’d done a bunch by wearing her favorite perfume.

She’d spent the past two nights sitting and standing directly next to Killian while they studied. More than once, she’d brushed up against him, sometimes intentionally (especially last night). His scent had drowned out anything else, to the point where she’d known as soon as she’d woken up in the morning that her perfume wasn’t going to cut it.

So she wore the leather jacket he’d lent her. She enjoyed having an excuse to pause while she took the cell bio exam and just breathe in the scent of leather and _him_.

Good lord, he was so sexy. Thank goodness she hadn’t been misreading the situation. She’d known that his insistence on escorting her back to her dorm was definitely completely out of kindness, and not any expectation of sex, but she could have _sworn_ that he _was_ still interested in her that way. She was relieved that she hadn’t been wrong.

She needed to stop smelling the jacket, at least for now. It was definitely conjuring up lots of memories of cell signaling pathways, but she needed to actually _use_ that information to answer the questions.

But all that studying with Killian had definitely paid off. The way that he’d explained the cell cycle made it so easy to answer related questions, and the silly stories he’d made up to remember cell signaling pathways were easy to remember and apply. When she got to the short answer questions regarding cancer biology, she was on a roll.

She finished with about ten minutes to spare. After handing in her exam to Professor Mills, she glanced around the room; Killian was nowhere to be seen. Clearly, he’d finished earlier and she’d been too absorbed in the exam to notice.

That wasn’t a problem exactly. She’d just go to the library at the same time she had the past few nights; if she kept that routine, he’d probably know to find her there.

But he was waiting for her outside the lecture hall. “How did it go?” he asked.

“I think it went really well,” she said. “All thanks to you.”

He smiled. “Well, if I pass tomorrow’s chem exam, it’ll definitely be all thanks to you.”

“Did you want to study now?” she asked. Was that why he’d been waiting for her?

“I’d actually love a break. I was thinking that perhaps we might get lunch.”

"Good call,” she said. “Lead the way.”

They talked about the exam as they walked to the nearest dining hall; to her relief, Killian had given all the same answers she had. Given how confident he was that he had done fine, she hoped it meant they’d both done well. It would be better than both of them failing, obviously.

Over lunch, though, she insisted that they _not_ talk about exams. “Our heads might explode,” she reasoned. “Besides, I assume you want to study after lunch, so there’s plenty of time for that.”

“Fair enough,” he admitted. “So, are you local to the area?”

“Maine,” she replied. “So this past winter was really nothing. It’s always worse at home. Now, I’m guessing _you’re_ not local.”

“Did my accent give me away?” he asked, jokingly.

“What made you decide to come here for school?”

“My older brother is at Harvard. He practically raised me, so when he came out here for school, I came with him. He’s finishing his senior year right now.”

She shook her head sympathetically. “Harvard, though? How pretentious.”

“He’s a pretentious sort of fellow. Crimson through and through; it suits him. I didn’t bother applying. I would have been a terrible fit.”

“Well, I’m glad you picked this school.” He smiled at her comment and she felt her face immediately flush.

“Do you have any plans for the summer?” he asked, changing the subject.

“We found a summer sublet nearby, and I got a summer job teaching SATs. So I’ll be around. How about you?”

“I’m sticking around as well. Liam—my brother—got me a job down at the harbor.”

“That’s great.” If he was interested in marine biology, being on the waterfront for the summer would be awesome.

“Well, it’ll be great if I pass this chem exam,” he said. “Are you ready, love?”

The library was crowded, but not as much as it had been over reading period; there were plenty of people who were in the middle of their exams, or taking a break after their first ones. They couldn’t get a room in the basement, but they found an incredibly secluded carrel desk off in the stacks.

After only an hour or two, though, it was clear that they were both studied out. She’d already felt relatively confident about the material, and after two solid days of studying with her, Killian clearly had a handle on it as well.

“So what now?” she asked, leaning against the desk. “I think my brain might bleed out my ears if I study any more. Is there anything else with chem I can help you with?”

He stared at her thoughtfully for a moment. “Yes, actually.” But instead of flipping to another page in the textbook or his notes, he stood up from the desk, grabbed her by the waist, and kissed her.

Her first reaction was surprise. This was the same guy who’d been too much of a gentleman to let her walk back to her dorm alone. Twice. And now he was just spontaneously kissing her in the middle of the library.

But in her surprise, her mouth dropped open slightly, and Killian took that as an invitation to deepen the kiss, sweeping his tongue across her lower lip and moving one hand to the back of her head.

So her second reaction was lust. She threaded her fingers through his hair and arched her back, pressing her body into his. He groaned softly into her mouth, and his other hand crept up her back underneath her shirt.

Her third reaction was appreciation. Having _this_ much privacy in the library during finals week was pretty much unprecedented.

She broke the kiss before he could unhook her bra. “Not that I’m complaining, but I don’t get how this is me helping you with chem.”

He grinned. “Well, I’d say that _this_ is the sort of chemistry I like studying.” She groaned; she’d walked _right_ into that one. “I had to, love. It was too perfect.”

“Yeah, that’s fair.” She smiled back at him. “Well? Come on, Killian. Show me what you’ve learned about chemistry.”

* * *

 

Killian nervously handed his chemistry exam to the teaching assistant; this time Emma had been the one to finish the exam first. But he wasn’t surprised to find her outside the examination room, still wearing his leather jacket, when he exited. “So?” she asked.

“I think I passed,” he said.

“You think you _passed?”_ She rolled her eyes. “Come on. Have some confidence. I bet you did just fine.”

“Well, I certainly hope so, but I was a little distracted thinking about yesterday.”

She shuffled her feet nervously. “Yeah, maybe we should have just focused on studying.”

“No, I mean—damn it, Emma, I’m not trying to imply that you made me fail the exam.” Thank god no one else was around to hear him make such a fool of himself. “I’m still a little nervous about how it went, but unlike some past exams, there weren’t any problems I encountered that I didn’t have any clue how to handle. Whether or not I handled them _correctly_ remains to be seen.”

“Okay,” she said, brightening up a bit. “Either way, it’s over. I like to look on the bright side.”

“Aye, it’s over.”

“Oh, before I forget!” She took off her backpack and removed the leather jacket. “Thanks for this.”

“It was nothing.” He folded it and draped it over his arm; he could smell her scent on it without even bringing it closer to his face. “I’m glad I could lend it to you.”

She shuffled nervously. “I, uh … Look, I know the exams are over now, so we don’t need to study together. But I … Ugh, sorry, I’m no good at this.”

But he was. “Emma, I don’t make love to women in libraries on a regular basis.” She blushed; she was so lovely when she blushed. “I was very much hoping that it meant something to you.”

“Of course it did,” she said, a little indignantly.

“Well, good.” They stood awkwardly for a few moments. “So, uh, do you want to get some dinner?”

“Okay. Which dining hall?”

“I was thinking we could go someplace off campus. There’s this great Italian place I’d love to take you to.”

“All right.” She smiled, and began walking towards the exit. He followed, hoping that she understood that he’d asked her on a _date_.

Outside, it was getting a little chilly. “How is it still so cold out?” he mused.

“Eh, it’s New England,” she said with a shrug. But then she eyed his arm. “Do you think I could borrow your jacket again?”

“Of course.” This time, he helped her put it on.

“Thanks.” She smiled and held out her hand; when he took it, she squeezed it gently. “All right, Killian; lead the way.”

She never gave the jacket back. But he didn’t mind.


End file.
